PHILADELPHIA — Pascal Siakam scored 27 points and the Pacers came back from down 16 points to eventually put away a severely undermanned 76ers team 112-100 at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday night.
The Pacers improved to 37-28, keeping pace with the Bucks in the race for fourth place in the Eastern Conference heading into their matchup on Saturday night in Milwaukee. The 76ers fell to 22-44.
Center Myles Turner added 18 points, forward Aaron Nesmith scored 16 points and Tyrese Haliburton had 14 points and 10 assists. Point guard Jeff Dowtin Jr. led the 76ers with 24 points.
Pacers continue to play down to undermanned teams
The Pacers have a history of messing around with teams that are shorthanded or otherwise undermanned going back to the 2022-23 season when Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and several other Nets starters sat out a game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, forcing a league-wide conversation about load management but the Pacers lost to their remaining players anyway.
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The Sixers had 11 players ruled out on Friday and had to sign former Pacers forward Oshae Brissett to a 10-day contract and bring up former IU star Jalen Hood-Schifino on his two-way contract. Most of the available players on the roster had spent significant time in the G League in the past two seasons including this year. However, the Pacers still allowed them to build a 16-point first half lead before they finally took the game over in the second half.
The 76ers won the first quarter 26-18 as the Pacers made just 7-of-21 field goals and 2-of-10 3-pointers in the period, posting an ugly efficiency figure of 0.86 points per possession. They eventually won the second quarter 29-25 but they still trailed 51-47 at halftime. At the break, they were just 17-of-48 from the floor and 5-of-20 from 3-point range. Meanwhile the 76ers were 18-of-38 and guard Jeff Dowtin already had 17 points on his way to a career scoring high.
The Pacers immediately turned things around in the second half with a 22-6 run to start the period. The 76ers came back against the second unit and the Pacers only won the third quarter 31-24, but Pacers coach Rick Carlisle brought the starters back out late in the third and they then keyed a 20-7 lead to start the fourth to put the Pacers up 98-82 and cruised the rest of the way.
Pacers rely on size to put the game away
Because the Pacers struggled so much to shoot the ball in the first half, they pounded the ball in the middle and exploited their size advantage to put the game away. Their pressure defense also created transition opportunities and they effectively won the game in the paint.
Siakam scored 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the third quarter alone and finished with 27 points on 12-of-20 shooting and also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out four assists. Turner scored 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Forward Obi Toppin and center Thomas Bryant also added 17 points off the bench and the Pacers finished with 60 points in the paint to the 76ers’ 48.
Tyrese Haliburton posts another double-double
All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton may have lost his shooting touch since returning from missing three games with a left hip flexor strain, but he still managed an eighth-straight points-assists double-double.
Haliburton made just 5-of-13 field goals including 2-of-7 3-point shots but he dished out 10 assists against just one turnover. Haliburton is still leading the Pacers with 21.7 points per game on 56% shooting including 50% from 3-point range and he has 104 total assists against 10 total turnovers in that stretch.
